OCEAN GROVE\u2019S Wendy Moor is adamant she followed due process during last October\u2019s Greater Geelong City Council postal election.<\/p>\n
So Ms Moor said she was surprised when she received a notice in the mail from the Australia Electoral Commission asking why she didn\u2019t vote.<\/p>\n
She said she followed the correct process once more and responded to the letter within the allocated time frame stating she did in fact vote and the next letter Wendy received was a fine.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth my partner John and I received the postal vote and both voted and posted them off.\u00a0 Then we got the first letter asking why we didn\u2019t vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sent the letter off explaining we did and then last week we both get an infringement notice each for $79 for not voting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Moor said after following due process throughout every stage of the voting and subsequent investigatory stage, she is now refusing to pay the fine.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did the right thing and I\u2019m not going to waste my time going down to get a stat dec (statutory declaration form).\u00a0 From what I gather there\u2019s a lot of people in Ocean Grove that did vote and received fines anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Facebook post on an Ocean Grove Barwon Heads community noticeboard querying if other people had received fines they felt were incorrect had close to 100 people confirming they were in the same predicament.<\/p>\n
\u201cI responded to the post on the noticeboard and I\u2019m wondering now if so many other people are in the same boat where the votes went that we posted,\u201d Ms Moor said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe received no acknowledgement of our letter, so I\u2019m going to send our infringement notices back to the electoral commission in the prepaid envelope they supplied.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike Lagastes from the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) said 21,312 apparent failure to vote (AFTV) notices were sent out following the 2017 City of Greater Geelong council elections. The total enrolment was 194,751, which indicates a 77 per cent voter turnout with 11 per cent of the total electorate sent an AFTV notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis notice is not a fine but an opportunity for people to respond with a reason for their apparent failure to vote,\u201d Mr Lagastes said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf people do not respond to this notice or do not provide a valid excuse, they will be sent an infringement notice.\u00a0 The VEC sent 15,527 infringement notices, 13,515 which were because of no response to the AFTV notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly 2,012 of the notices were due to an invalid response with 3,773 people excused after providing a valid response.\u00a0 This means the overwhelming majority of people who respond to the AFTV were excused.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Lagastes said voters who received an infringement notice can still provide a valid reason and be excused, but this must be done in writing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they do not have a valid reason, they should pay the $79 as a penalty reminder fee of $24.70 will apply to unpaid infringements,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For advice on how to respond to an infringement notice, phone the VEC on 1300 551 575.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OCEAN GROVE\u2019S Wendy Moor is adamant she followed due process during last October\u2019s Greater Geelong City Council postal election. So Ms Moor said she was surprised when she received a notice in the mail from the Australia Electoral Commission asking why she didn\u2019t vote. She said she followed the correct process once more and responded […]<\/p>\n